BALLAD POEMS
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With You In My Life
My Life was a book of empty pages,
Some shredded in rages,
Others crayoned in black,
Proof how my life was a wreck.
.....
Salma Hatim
My Life was a book of empty pages,
Some shredded in rages,
Others crayoned in black,
Proof how my life was a wreck.
.....
Salma Hatim
A Faded Boy—in Sallow Clothes
1524
A faded Boy-in sallow Clothes
Who drove a lonesome Cow
.....
Emily Dickinson
1524
A faded Boy-in sallow Clothes
Who drove a lonesome Cow
.....
Emily Dickinson
Under Which Lyre
A REACTIONARY TRACT FOR THE TIMES
(Phi Beta Kappa Poem, Harvard, 1946)
.....
W. H. Auden
A REACTIONARY TRACT FOR THE TIMES
(Phi Beta Kappa Poem, Harvard, 1946)
.....
W. H. Auden
The Deserted Village
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visits paid,
And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed:
.....
Oliver Goldsmith
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visits paid,
And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed:
.....
Oliver Goldsmith
Dejection: An Ode
Late, late yestreen I saw the new moon,
With the old moon in her arms;
And I fear, I fear, my master dear!
We shall have a deadly storm.
.....
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Late, late yestreen I saw the new moon,
With the old moon in her arms;
And I fear, I fear, my master dear!
We shall have a deadly storm.
.....
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Yarrow Unvisited
See the various Poems the scene of which is laid upon
the banks of the Yarrow; in particular, the exquisite
Ballad of Hamilton beginning-
.....
William Wordsworth
See the various Poems the scene of which is laid upon
the banks of the Yarrow; in particular, the exquisite
Ballad of Hamilton beginning-
.....
William Wordsworth
The Waste Land
‘Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis
vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent:
Sibylla ti theleis; respondebat illa: apothanein thelo.'
.....
T. S. Eliot
‘Nam Sibyllam quidem Cumis ego ipse oculis meis
vidi in ampulla pendere, et cum illi pueri dicerent:
Sibylla ti theleis; respondebat illa: apothanein thelo.'
.....
T. S. Eliot
Historion
No man hath dared to write this thing as yet,
And yet I know, how that the souls of all men great
At times pass athrough us,
And we are melted into them, and are not
.....
Ezra Pound
No man hath dared to write this thing as yet,
And yet I know, how that the souls of all men great
At times pass athrough us,
And we are melted into them, and are not
.....
Ezra Pound
Repeat That, Repeat
Repeat that, repeat,
Cuckoo, bird, and open ear wells, heart-springs, delightfully sweet,
With a ballad, with a ballad, a rebound
Off trundled timber and scoops of the hillside ground, hollow hollow hollow ground:
.....
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Repeat that, repeat,
Cuckoo, bird, and open ear wells, heart-springs, delightfully sweet,
With a ballad, with a ballad, a rebound
Off trundled timber and scoops of the hillside ground, hollow hollow hollow ground:
.....
Gerard Manley Hopkins
The Ballad Of Father Gilligan
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day;
For half his flock were in their beds,
Or under green sods lay.
.....
William Butler Yeats
The old priest Peter Gilligan
Was weary night and day;
For half his flock were in their beds,
Or under green sods lay.
.....
William Butler Yeats
The Ballad Of Father O’hart
Good Father John O'Hart
In penal days rode out
To a Shoneen who had free lands
And his own snipe and trout.
.....
William Butler Yeats
Good Father John O'Hart
In penal days rode out
To a Shoneen who had free lands
And his own snipe and trout.
.....
William Butler Yeats
The Ballad Of Moll Magee
Come round me, little childer;
There, don't fling stones at me
Because I mutter as I go;
But pity Moll Magee.
.....
William Butler Yeats
Come round me, little childer;
There, don't fling stones at me
Because I mutter as I go;
But pity Moll Magee.
.....
William Butler Yeats
The Ballad Of The Foxhunter
‘Lay me in a cushioned chair;
Carry me, ye four,
With cushions here and cushions there,
To see the world once more.
.....
William Butler Yeats
‘Lay me in a cushioned chair;
Carry me, ye four,
With cushions here and cushions there,
To see the world once more.
.....
William Butler Yeats
The Municipal Gallery Revisited
I
Around me the images of thirty years:
An ambush; pilgrims at the water-side;
.....
William Butler Yeats
I
Around me the images of thirty years:
An ambush; pilgrims at the water-side;
.....
William Butler Yeats
To Ireland In The Coming Times
Know, that I would accounted be
True brother of a company
That sang, to sweeten Ireland's wrong,
Ballad and story, rann and song;
.....
William Butler Yeats
Know, that I would accounted be
True brother of a company
That sang, to sweeten Ireland's wrong,
Ballad and story, rann and song;
.....
William Butler Yeats
Absalom And Achitophel
In pious times, ere priest-craft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin;
When man, on many, multipli'd his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd:
.....
John Dryden
In pious times, ere priest-craft did begin,
Before polygamy was made a sin;
When man, on many, multipli'd his kind,
Ere one to one was cursedly confin'd:
.....
John Dryden
Sang From The Heart, Sire
1059
Sang from the Heart, Sire,
Dipped my Beak in it,
.....
Emily Dickinson
1059
Sang from the Heart, Sire,
Dipped my Beak in it,
.....
Emily Dickinson
Facility
So easy 'tis to make a rhyme,
That did the world but know it,
Your coachman might Parnassus climb,
Your butler be a poet.
.....
Robert Service
So easy 'tis to make a rhyme,
That did the world but know it,
Your coachman might Parnassus climb,
Your butler be a poet.
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Blasphemous Bill
I took a contract to bury the body of blasphemous Bill MacKie,
Whenever, wherever or whatsoever the manner of death he die-
Whether he die in the light o' day or under the peak-faced moon;
In cabin or dance-hall, camp or dive, mucklucks or patent shoon;
.....
Robert Service
I took a contract to bury the body of blasphemous Bill MacKie,
Whenever, wherever or whatsoever the manner of death he die-
Whether he die in the light o' day or under the peak-faced moon;
In cabin or dance-hall, camp or dive, mucklucks or patent shoon;
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Casey’s Billy-goat
You've heard of “Casey at The Bat,”
And “Casey's Tabble Dote”;
But now it's time
To write a rhyme
.....
Robert Service
You've heard of “Casey at The Bat,”
And “Casey's Tabble Dote”;
But now it's time
To write a rhyme
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Gum-boot Ben
He was an old prospector with a vision bleared and dim.
He asked me for a grubstake, and the same I gave to him.
He hinted of a hidden trove, and when I made so bold
To question his veracity, this is the tale he told.
.....
Robert Service
He was an old prospector with a vision bleared and dim.
He asked me for a grubstake, and the same I gave to him.
He hinted of a hidden trove, and when I made so bold
To question his veracity, this is the tale he told.
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Hank The Finn
Now Fireman Flynn met Hank the Finn where lights of Lust-land glow;
“Let's leave,” says he, “the lousy sea, and give the land a show.
I'm fed up to the molar mark with wallopin' the brine;
I feel the bloody barnacles a-carkin' on me spine.
.....
Robert Service
Now Fireman Flynn met Hank the Finn where lights of Lust-land glow;
“Let's leave,” says he, “the lousy sea, and give the land a show.
I'm fed up to the molar mark with wallopin' the brine;
I feel the bloody barnacles a-carkin' on me spine.
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Hard-luck Henry
Now wouldn't you expect to find a man an awful crank
That's staked out nigh three hundred claims, and every one a blank;
That's followed every fool stampede, and seen the rise and fall
Of camps where men got gold in chunks and he got none at all;
.....
Robert Service
Now wouldn't you expect to find a man an awful crank
That's staked out nigh three hundred claims, and every one a blank;
That's followed every fool stampede, and seen the rise and fall
Of camps where men got gold in chunks and he got none at all;
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of How Macpherson Held The Floor
Said President MacConnachie to Treasurer MacCall:
“We ought to have a piper for our next Saint Andrew's Ball.
Yon squakin' saxophone gives me the syncopated gripes.
I'm sick of jazz, I want to hear the skirling of the pipes.”
.....
Robert Service
Said President MacConnachie to Treasurer MacCall:
“We ought to have a piper for our next Saint Andrew's Ball.
Yon squakin' saxophone gives me the syncopated gripes.
I'm sick of jazz, I want to hear the skirling of the pipes.”
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Lenin’s Tomb
This is the yarn he told me
As we sat in Casey's Bar,
That Rooshun mug who scammed from the jug
In the Land of the Crimson Star;
.....
Robert Service
This is the yarn he told me
As we sat in Casey's Bar,
That Rooshun mug who scammed from the jug
In the Land of the Crimson Star;
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of One-eyed Mike
This is the tale that was told to me by the man with the crystal eye,
As I smoked my pipe in the camp-fire light, and the Glories swept the sky;
As the Northlights gleamed and curved and streamed, and the bottle of “hooch” was dry.
.....
Robert Service
This is the tale that was told to me by the man with the crystal eye,
As I smoked my pipe in the camp-fire light, and the Glories swept the sky;
As the Northlights gleamed and curved and streamed, and the bottle of “hooch” was dry.
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Pious Pete
“The North has got him.”-Yukonism.
I tried to refine that neighbor of mine, honest to God, I did.
I grieved for his fate, and early and late I watched over him like a kid.
.....
Robert Service
“The North has got him.”-Yukonism.
I tried to refine that neighbor of mine, honest to God, I did.
I grieved for his fate, and early and late I watched over him like a kid.
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Salvation Bill
'Twas in the bleary middle of the hard-boiled Arctic night,
I was lonesome as a loon, so if you can,
Imagine my emotions of amazement and delight
When I bumped into that Missionary Man.
.....
Robert Service
'Twas in the bleary middle of the hard-boiled Arctic night,
I was lonesome as a loon, so if you can,
Imagine my emotions of amazement and delight
When I bumped into that Missionary Man.
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Soulful Sam
You want me to tell you a story, a yarn of the firin' line,
Of our thin red kharki ‘eroes, out there where the bullets whine;
Out there where the bombs are bustin',
and the cannons like ‘ell-doors slam-
.....
Robert Service
You want me to tell you a story, a yarn of the firin' line,
Of our thin red kharki ‘eroes, out there where the bullets whine;
Out there where the bombs are bustin',
and the cannons like ‘ell-doors slam-
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of The Black Fox Skin
I
There was Claw-fingered Kitty and Windy Ike living the life of shame,
When unto them in the Long, Long Night came the man-who-had-no-name;
.....
Robert Service
I
There was Claw-fingered Kitty and Windy Ike living the life of shame,
When unto them in the Long, Long Night came the man-who-had-no-name;
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of The Brand
'Twas up in a land long famed for gold, where women were far and rare,
Tellus, the smith, had taken to wife a maiden amazingly fair;
Tellus, the brawny worker in iron, hairy and heavy of hand,
Saw her and loved her and bore her away from the tribe of a Southern land;
.....
Robert Service
'Twas up in a land long famed for gold, where women were far and rare,
Tellus, the smith, had taken to wife a maiden amazingly fair;
Tellus, the brawny worker in iron, hairy and heavy of hand,
Saw her and loved her and bore her away from the tribe of a Southern land;
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of The Ice-worm Cocktail
To Dawson Town came Percy Brown from London on the Thames.
A pane of glass was in his eye, and stockings on his stems.
Upon the shoulder of his coat a leather pad he wore,
To rest his deadly rifle when it wasn't seeking gore;
.....
Robert Service
To Dawson Town came Percy Brown from London on the Thames.
A pane of glass was in his eye, and stockings on his stems.
Upon the shoulder of his coat a leather pad he wore,
To rest his deadly rifle when it wasn't seeking gore;
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of The Leather Medal
Only a Leather Medal, hanging there on the wall,
Dingy and frayed and faded, dusty and worn and old;
Yet of my humble treasures I value it most of all,
And I wouldn't part with that medal if you gave me its weight in gold.
.....
Robert Service
Only a Leather Medal, hanging there on the wall,
Dingy and frayed and faded, dusty and worn and old;
Yet of my humble treasures I value it most of all,
And I wouldn't part with that medal if you gave me its weight in gold.
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of The Northern Lights
One of the Down and Out-that's me. Stare at me well, ay, stare!
Stare and shrink-say! you wouldn't think that I was a millionaire.
Look at my face, it's crimped and gouged-one of them death-mask things;
Don't seem the sort of man, do I, as might be the pal of kings?
.....
Robert Service
One of the Down and Out-that's me. Stare at me well, ay, stare!
Stare and shrink-say! you wouldn't think that I was a millionaire.
Look at my face, it's crimped and gouged-one of them death-mask things;
Don't seem the sort of man, do I, as might be the pal of kings?
.....
Robert Service
The Ballad Of Touch-the-button Nell
Beyond the Rocking Bridge it lies, the burg of evil fame,
The huts where hive and swarm and thrive the sisterhood of shame.
Through all the night each cabin light goes out and then goes in,
A blood-red heliograph of lust, a semaphore of sin.
.....
Robert Service
Beyond the Rocking Bridge it lies, the burg of evil fame,
The huts where hive and swarm and thrive the sisterhood of shame.
Through all the night each cabin light goes out and then goes in,
A blood-red heliograph of lust, a semaphore of sin.
.....
Robert Service
The Bread-knife Ballad
A little child was sitting Up on her mother's knee
And down down her cheeks the bitter tears did flow.
And as I sadly listened I heard this tender plea,
'Twas uttered in a voice so soft and low.
.....
Robert Service
A little child was sitting Up on her mother's knee
And down down her cheeks the bitter tears did flow.
And as I sadly listened I heard this tender plea,
'Twas uttered in a voice so soft and low.
.....
Robert Service
Song’s Eternity
What is song's eternity?
Come and see.
Can it noise and bustle be?
Come and see.
.....
John Clare
What is song's eternity?
Come and see.
Can it noise and bustle be?
Come and see.
.....
John Clare
Ballade At Thirty-five
This, no song of an ingénue,
This, no ballad of innocence;
This, the rhyme of a lady who
Followed ever her natural bents.
.....
Dorothy Parker
This, no song of an ingénue,
This, no ballad of innocence;
This, the rhyme of a lady who
Followed ever her natural bents.
.....
Dorothy Parker
The Ballad Of The Children Of The Czar
1
The children of the Czar
Played with a bouncing ball
.....
Delmore Schwartz
1
The children of the Czar
Played with a bouncing ball
.....
Delmore Schwartz
A Ballad Of Two Knights
Two knights rode forth at early dawn
A-seeking maids to wed,
Said one, “My lady must be fair,
With gold hair on her head.”
.....
Sara Teasdale
Two knights rode forth at early dawn
A-seeking maids to wed,
Said one, “My lady must be fair,
With gold hair on her head.”
.....
Sara Teasdale
Ballad Of Another Ophelia
Oh the green glimmer of apples in the orchard,
Lamps in a wash of rain!
Oh the wet walk of my brown hen through the stackyard,
Oh tears on the window pane!
.....
D. H. Lawrence
Oh the green glimmer of apples in the orchard,
Lamps in a wash of rain!
Oh the wet walk of my brown hen through the stackyard,
Oh tears on the window pane!
.....
D. H. Lawrence
There Was An Old Person Of Fife
There was an old person of Fife,
Who was greatly disgusted with life;
They sang him a ballad,
And fed him on salad,
.....
Edward Lear
There was an old person of Fife,
Who was greatly disgusted with life;
They sang him a ballad,
And fed him on salad,
.....
Edward Lear
A Ballad Of Footmen
Now what in the name of the sun and the stars
Is the meaning of this most unholy of wars?
Do men find life so full of humour and joy
.....
Amy Lowell
Now what in the name of the sun and the stars
Is the meaning of this most unholy of wars?
Do men find life so full of humour and joy
.....
Amy Lowell
The Ballad Of Dead Ladies
From the French of François Villon
Tell me now in what hidden way is
Lady Flora the lovely Roman?
.....
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
From the French of François Villon
Tell me now in what hidden way is
Lady Flora the lovely Roman?
.....
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
The Bridal Ballad
The ring is on my hand,
And the wreath is on my brow;
Satins and jewels grand
Are all at my command.
.....
Edgar Allan Poe
The ring is on my hand,
And the wreath is on my brow;
Satins and jewels grand
Are all at my command.
.....
Edgar Allan Poe
A Ballad Of Burdens
The burden of fair women. Vain delight,
And love self-slain in some sweet shameful way,
And sorrowful old age that comes by night
As a thief comes that has no heart by day,
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
The burden of fair women. Vain delight,
And love self-slain in some sweet shameful way,
And sorrowful old age that comes by night
As a thief comes that has no heart by day,
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
A Ballad Of Death
Kneel down, fair Love, and fill thyself with tears,
Girdle thyself with sighing for a girth
Upon the sides of mirth,
Cover thy lips and eyelids, let thine ears
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Kneel down, fair Love, and fill thyself with tears,
Girdle thyself with sighing for a girth
Upon the sides of mirth,
Cover thy lips and eyelids, let thine ears
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
A Ballad Of François Villon, Prince Of All Ballad-makers
Bird of the bitter bright grey golden morn
Scarce risen upon the dusk of dolorous years,
First of us all and sweetest singer born
Whose far shrill note the world of new men hears
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Bird of the bitter bright grey golden morn
Scarce risen upon the dusk of dolorous years,
First of us all and sweetest singer born
Whose far shrill note the world of new men hears
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
The Epitaph In Form Of A Ballad Which Villon Made For Himself And His Comrades, Expecting To Be Hang
Men, brother men, that after us yet live,
Let not your hearts too hard against us be;
For if some pity of us poor men ye give,
The sooner God shall take of you pity.
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Men, brother men, that after us yet live,
Let not your hearts too hard against us be;
For if some pity of us poor men ye give,
The sooner God shall take of you pity.
.....
Algernon Charles Swinburne
Silentium Amoris
As often-times the too resplendent sun
Hurries the pallid and reluctant moon
Back to her sombre cave, ere she hath won
A single ballad from the nightingale,
.....
Oscar Wilde
As often-times the too resplendent sun
Hurries the pallid and reluctant moon
Back to her sombre cave, ere she hath won
A single ballad from the nightingale,
.....
Oscar Wilde
The Ballad Of Reading Gaol
In memoriam
C. T. W.
Sometime trooper of the Royal Horse Guards
obiit H.M. prison, Reading, Berkshire
.....
Oscar Wilde
In memoriam
C. T. W.
Sometime trooper of the Royal Horse Guards
obiit H.M. prison, Reading, Berkshire
.....
Oscar Wilde
The Ballad Of A Bachelor
Listen, ladies, while I sing
The ballad of John Henry King.
John Henry was a bachelor,
.....
Ellis Parker Butler
Listen, ladies, while I sing
The ballad of John Henry King.
John Henry was a bachelor,
.....
Ellis Parker Butler
An Elegy Upon The Death Of The Dean Of St. Paul’s, Dr. John Donne
Can we not force from widow'd poetry,
Now thou art dead (great Donne) one elegy
To crown thy hearse? Why yet dare we not trust,
Though with unkneaded dough-bak'd prose, thy dust,
.....
Thomas Carew
Can we not force from widow'd poetry,
Now thou art dead (great Donne) one elegy
To crown thy hearse? Why yet dare we not trust,
Though with unkneaded dough-bak'd prose, thy dust,
.....
Thomas Carew
The Ballad Of God-makers
A bird flew out at the break of day
From the nest where it had curled,
And ere the eve the bird had set
Fear on the kings of the world.
.....
G. K. Chesterton
A bird flew out at the break of day
From the nest where it had curled,
And ere the eve the bird had set
Fear on the kings of the world.
.....
G. K. Chesterton
The Ballad Of The Battle Of Gibeon
Five kings rule o'er the Amorite,
Mighty as fear and old as night;
Swathed with unguent and gold and jewel,
Waxed they merry and fat and cruel.
.....
G. K. Chesterton
Five kings rule o'er the Amorite,
Mighty as fear and old as night;
Swathed with unguent and gold and jewel,
Waxed they merry and fat and cruel.
.....
G. K. Chesterton
The Ballad Of The White Horse: 01 - Dedication
Of great limbs gone to chaos,
A great face turned to night-
Why bend above a shapeless shroud
Seeking in such archaic cloud
.....
G. K. Chesterton
Of great limbs gone to chaos,
A great face turned to night-
Why bend above a shapeless shroud
Seeking in such archaic cloud
.....
G. K. Chesterton
The Ballad Of The White Horse: 02 - Book I: The Vision Of The King
Before the gods that made the gods
Had seen their sunrise pass,
The White Horse of the White Horse Vale
Was cut out of the grass.
.....
G. K. Chesterton
Before the gods that made the gods
Had seen their sunrise pass,
The White Horse of the White Horse Vale
Was cut out of the grass.
.....
G. K. Chesterton